Abzena plc, the life sciences group providing services and technologies to enable the discovery, design, development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical products, has signed an agreement to access a major cell line depository.

The agreement with an unnamed institution will allow Abzena access to cell lines representing multiple different species, tissue types and genetic disorders. This removes the lengthy process of negotiating individual cell line licences for Abzena and its customers. The positive impact for customers will be a more streamlined development of specialised bioassays. It will be able to provide faster, more comprehensive and more efficient functional characterization, lead selection and potency assay development for its customers’ novel biologic drug candidates.

Dr. Campbell Bunce, SVP, Scientific Operations, commented: “Securing access to this cell bank will be a major benefit to both us and our customers. We will be able to offer broader capabilities for evaluating and testing our customers’ drug candidates to help advance the next generation of biopharmaceuticals.”